Phoebe Bridgers Lands A24 Acting Debut in Primetime

Indie musician Phoebe Bridgers will make her feature-film acting debut in A24’s Primetime, appearing alongside Robert Pattinson in Lance Oppenheim’s narrative feature debut.

The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, dramatizes the rise of Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen and arrives in theaters on September 25.

Bridgers’ casting marks a high-profile crossover between indie music and prestige cinema, coming on the eve of her third solo album, Lost Weekend, due August 14 via Dead Oceans.

The Boygenius member’s role in Primetime has not yet been disclosed.

Pattinson Stars as Chris Hansen

Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen, the journalist who created To Catch a Predator, a true-crime segment on Dateline NBC that chronicled efforts to identify suspected child predators posing as minors online, often in collaboration with law enforcement and decoys.

The film follows Hansen’s move into primetime television, with the A24 release tracing the program’s origins and its complicated cultural footprint.

Oppenheim, best known for directing the documentary Ren Faire, makes his narrative feature debut with the project.

The cast also includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, and Bokeem Woodbine.

Trailer Highlights the Show’s Rise

The official trailer, released by A24, opens with former NBCUniversal boss Jeff Zucker, playing himself, addressing Pattinson’s Hansen in a voiceover.

“I don’t like your show, but America loves it! So I need to move you. To Catch A Predator 9 p.m. primetime.”

The next scene shows Hansen in a network hallway, excitedly shaking his fists.

“I’ll be bigger than Lost!”

Set up as a split screen, the trailer hints at Hansen’s early efforts with the show, as Pattinson delivers dialogue that will be familiar to anyone who has seen To Catch a Predator — questions Hansen would prod his subjects with after confronting them on camera.

“What would have happened if I wasn’t here? You see how this looks, right?”

“At the end of the day, a man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes. Would you agree?”

“Do you watch television? Well, there’s something you should know. I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC — and you’re able to be a part of television history.”

Comparisons to Nightcrawler

Deadline first reported on Primetime in 2024, when the project had not yet confirmed Hansen as the subject.

A24 released a teaser in May.

The film’s perspective on Hansen and his program is not entirely clear from the trailer, but its tone — and the focus on an ambitious on-air personality chasing ratings — echoes Dan Gilroy’s 2014 thriller Nightcrawler, in which Jake Gyllenhaal played a Los Angeles crime stringer.

Documentary Context

Primetime arrives in the wake of Predators, David Osit’s 2025 documentary that examined the dubious ethics behind the production of To Catch a Predator.

Whether the Oppenheim film engages directly with those critiques remains to be seen, but its prestige platform suggests a more ambivalent portrait than Hansen’s original on-air persona.

Sources

• NME